Directed by: Oren Moverman
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver, Ice Cube, Ben Foster
Rated:R
I've got good news and bad news...
The good news is that Rampart is a great “cop gone wild” film that reminded me of Abel Ferrara's, Bad Lieutenant from 1992.
The bad news is that by the time you read this it will not be showing here in Springfield. But it is due out on DVD on May 15.
The story is another one “based on true events.” These happened in Los Angeles in 1999.
Director Oren Moverman co-wrote the screenplay with novelist/screenwriter James Ellroy. Ellroy knows a thing or two about crime novels and screenplays. The body of his work includes L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere.
The film stars Woody Harrelson as L.A. cop, Dave Brown. Those who remember Harrelson as the affable and slightly naïve bartender from Cheers may be surprised by his character here. He's less than affable and certainly not naïve. Brown is a misanthrope to the nth degree and the film never really lets us understand why. That adds even more creepiness to his character. He simply seems to enjoy being the way he is. To the extent he can enjoy anything. As he tells an internal affairs investigator (played by rapper and actor Ice Cube), “I'm not a racist...I hate everybody.”
Brown has been caught on video severely beating a suspect. A few years earlier he had murdered a serial rapist. Brown has two daughters and said he did it because of his feelings for them.
Brown also has two ex-wives (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon) they are sisters and live, with the daughters, next door to Brown. At first the situation seemed a little weird to me but it's one of the least weird things in Brown's life. To his credit he is generally respectful of women. His ex-wives aren't afraid of him (he never physically abused them) but it's plain he has wearied them over the years.
After the video of the beating is made public, Brown is brought up on charges. The prosecution in the trial is handle by an assistant DA, a no-nonsense character played with determination by Sigourney Weaver.
His defense is being handled by an attorney played by Robin Wright. He met her at a bar and ended up spending the night with her. So their relationship makes for another unsettling plot device.
Also on hand is the great character actor Ned Beatty, playing an ex-cop who taught Brown everything he knows about being crooked. With this character and a homeless man (Ben Foster) who serves as an informant, we increasingly get the idea that Dave Brown's life is going from bad to worse.
While the tale is, as mentioned, loosely based on a true story, the corruption scandals of the L.A.P.D. in the late 1990's is well documented and one of the most infamous incidents of police misconduct in American history.
The look of the film is glaring and gritty, which matches the tone of the theme. Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski (The Messenger, Arlington Road) used a technique he calls “360-lighting.” He uses light from the natural sources in the scene and keeps traditional movie lighting to a minimum.
He says, “It's a way of using available light and shaping it. Subsequently, it gives the director a lot of time with the actors...and a lot more time shooting as opposed to setting up the film. Finally, we're spending more time shooting rather than setting up.”
He also used a new kind of movie camera (for real movies, I mean.) It stores the images on 32 gigabyte memory cards. 15 minutes per card. But it's a far cry from a home camera or cell phone. It uses real lenses and has to be fitted with a wireless device that sends what he's shooting to a monitor for the director.
(See http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/behind-the-lens-bobby-bukowski-cinematographer for the complete story about Bukowski and the new technology.)
I don't want to give away too much but I will venture to say that while Rampart is a laudable film, it will never be referred to as “The feel good movie of the season.”
